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Floods in Pakistan threaten Afghanistan’s food supply: UN
The devastating floods in Pakistan will place huge strains on efforts to get food into neighboring Afghanistan to relieve its catastrophic humanitarian crisis, the United Nations warned on Friday.
The UN’s World Food Programme said much of the food aid transited through Pakistan by road — a network that has been severely affected by the worst floods in the country’s history.
“We’re focused absolutely on the needs of the people in Pakistan right now but the ramifications of what we’re experiencing here go wider,” WFP’s Pakistan country director Chris Kaye said.
“We’re becoming very, very concerned about the overall food security, not only in Pakistan in the immediate and medium term, but also for what it’s going to imply for the operations in Afghanistan.
Large amounts of its food enter via the port of Karachi. “Pakistan provides a vital supply route into Afghanistan,” he said.
“With roads that have been washed away, that presents us with a major logistical challenge,” Kaye said.
“WFP has procured over 320,000 metric tonnes in the past year to support operations in Afghanistan. The floods in Pakistan are going to put a huge dent in that capability.”
He said there was a “major problem” in restoring agricultural production in Pakistan to feed its own people and continue supplying food to Afghanistan.
A further issue was that the wheat harvest was being stored in flooded areas of Pakistan, and “a large proportion of the wheat has been washed away.”
He said the food security situation in Pakistan was “grave” even before the floods, with 43 percent of people food insecure and the country ranking at 92 out of 116 on the Global Hunger Index.
Monsoon rains have submerged a third of Pakistan, claiming more than a thousand lives since June and unleashing powerful floods that have washed away swathes of vital crops and damaged or destroyed more than a million homes.
Officials have blamed climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather around the world.
Afghanistan’s 38 million people face a desperate humanitarian crisis — aggravated after billions of dollars in assets were frozen and foreign aid dried up when the Islamic Emirate took over a year ago.
Tajik authorities say their border guards clashed with militants who crossed into Tajikistan’s Khatlon region from Afghanistan on Tuesday night.
Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security said in a statement that militants intended to carry out an armed attack on one of the border outposts.
Three militants were killed and two Tajik soldiers died in the clash. From the scene, three firearms—an M-16 rifle and a Kalashnikov assault rifle—three foreign-made pistols equipped with suppressors, ten hand grenades, one night-vision device, explosives, and other military equipment were seized, according to the committee.
This was the third reported attack from Afghanistan into Tajikistan in the past month, with the previous ones targeting Chinese nationals.
The Islamic Emirate previously said it assured Tajikistan it was ready to tighten border security and conduct joint investigations.
Business
Afghanistan’s first aluminum can factory launched in Herat with $120 million investment
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, laid the foundation stone of the “Pamir” aluminum can production company at the industrial parks of Herat on Thursday.
Afghanistan’s first aluminum can manufacturing plant was officially launched on Thursday in Herat province, marking a significant step toward industrial development and economic self-reliance.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, laid the foundation stone of the “Pamir” aluminum can production company at the industrial parks of Herat on Thursday.
According to officials, the Pamir factory is the first of its kind in Afghanistan and is being established with an investment of $120 million. The project will be built on 16 jeribs of land within Herat’s industrial zones.
Once completed, the factory is expected to create employment opportunities for around 1,700 Afghan citizens. Officials say the project will play a key role in boosting domestic production, reducing reliance on imports, and strengthening the national economy.
Authorities described the launch of the project as a clear sign of growing investment in the industrial sector and ongoing efforts to promote economic self-sufficiency in the country.
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Medvedev: IEA posed less threat to Russia than western-backed groups
He added that such organisations have consistently pursued one objective: “to break apart the multiethnic people of Russia.”
Russia’s Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) caused less harm to Russia than Western-backed civic organisations that, he claims, sought to undermine the country’s unity.
In an article published in the Russian journal Rodina, Medvedev wrote that while the IEA had long been designated as a terrorist organisation, its actions did not inflict the same level of damage on Russia as what he described as Western-supported institutions operating under the banner of academic or humanitarian work.
“Let us be honest: the Taliban (IEA) movement, long listed as a terrorist organisation, has caused modern Russia far less damage than all those pseudo-scientific institutions whose aim is to dismantle our country under the guise of aiding the oppressed,” Medvedev stated.
He added that such organisations have consistently pursued one objective: “to break apart the multiethnic people of Russia.”
Medvedev’s remarks come amid a shift in Russia’s official stance toward Afghanistan. In April, Russia’s Supreme Court suspended the ban on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which had previously been included on the country’s list of terrorist organisations.
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